How Generation Z Galvanized a Revolutionary Movement against Myanmar’s 2021 Military Coup By Ingrid Jordt, Tharaphi Than and Sue Ye Lin1 INTRODUCTION On 1 February 2021, the opening day of the new Parliament elected in November 2020, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces, or Tatmadaw, launched a coup overthrowing the country’s democratic government. The military declared a newly formed “State Administration Council” as the interim governing body, reserving to the Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief the “exercise of legislative power by himself or by a body including him”.2 The arrest of President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, alongside other National League for Democracy (NLD) party members, writers, student leaders, activists, and monks, prompted a committee of fifteen ousted elected lawmakers to form a government-in-waiting under the name of the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) Ingrid Jordt is Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Tharaphi Than is Associate Professor of Burmese, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA; and Sue Ye Lin is working in civil society in Myanmar. 1 “Myanmar Military Announces New State Administrative Council”, Myanmar Times, 2 February 2021, https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-militaryannounces-new-state-administrative-council.html (accessed 17 March 2021). 2 1 21-J07648 01 Trends_2021-7.indd 1 28/4/21 9:34 AM